The Otago Witness. DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, JUNE 20.

Otago Witness, Issue 864, 20 June 1868, Page 10

The Otago Witness. DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, JUNE 20.

The General Assembly is to meet on the 9fch of July. Officially nothing has oozed out of the intentions of the Government, but Major Richardson has spoken, and hia opinions must be regarded as those of

the Ministry with which he was so long and so intimately connected. His speech at Balclutha waa professedly a review of the political aspect of the Colony iv reference to Provincial Institutions. 3!he opinions of Major Richardson are always entitled to consideration, although it is not necessary to agree with them. He is a representative man, and expresses the ideas of a class of politicans who have worked hard and with increasing success in the cause <>f O-LtralLtn. His utterances, mr.so be t .■>,!: jn to l.v those oi a, class who, having adopted specific views, attempt to justify them by placing them in the brighest light, while the ideas of their opponents are painted in, to say the. least of it, sombre colors. His object was to show that Constitutional change is necessary: that in the few years that have passed since the power of self-government was conferred wpon the Colony, Provincial Institutions have fulfilled their object, and that they must now give place to other arrangements more fitted to our altered cir cumstances. In support of these positions the Honorable Major referred to the original intention of Provincial Governments ; described what he considered their present condition in relation to the General Government, and then propounded a modern Utopia, in which every thing, re j garding the outlay of public revenue is to he defined by specific rules.

Majpr Richardson's reading of the past is that Provincial Institutions were never intended to be enduring, but that they were founded for a specific purpose. We are willing to accord to the framers of the Constitution every credit for wisdom and foresight they deserve, but cannot agree with the honorable speaker that they ever contemplated a speedy end to Provincialism. It arose from the peculiarity of the Colonisation of New Zealand. Had settlement proceeded from one common centre, and radiated as facilities of communication' gave access to the inte- ! rior, government from a centre would have conduced to prosperity. But instead of this, in New Zealand, there are as many centres of colonisation as there are Provinces. Each of these is virtually a separate Colony, and a federation was the only form possible. It follows that each Colony or Province, term it as best suits the idiosyncrasy of the reader, had something special that required special political treatment. This specialty, although perfectly comprehensible to the settlers themselves, is not so easily understood beyond the boundaries of the Province. The object of Centralism is to obliterate these specialties — to reduce all io one dead level. The prosperity of Otago is to relieve the poverty of Taranaki, or Auckland, or Ha^wke's Bay, and this on the pretence that Provincialism lias fulfilled its object, is effete or deadening in its influence. To this conclusion we demur. That it may be desirable to fuse Provincialism into larger Governmeats may with fairness be conceded ; but this is not what is sought. Provincialism presents a barrier to Central domination which has proved inseparable on more than one occasion, It is proposed by Major Richardson to break down this barrier by dividing the Provinces into smaller districts, so that each separate Local Government having an interest dif fering from the rest may have no fellowship with them, and be easily coerced. Divide et impera is the maxim upon which the Government of the Utopia of Major Richardson is to be founded.

The objections to the scheme propounded are numerous and weighty. The fact remains unaltered, that the interest of the two Islands is not identical. The The North Island has separate interests from the Middle Island, and needs different legislation. That there are certain arrangements in which it is profitable for both to concur is true, bxit these relate chiefly to postal and coastal conveniences. The population's, the industries, the modes of thought and of finance differ. It is as unfair to appropriate the revenue of the Middle Island to the exigencies of the North, as it would be to the necessities of Fiji; Had Major Richardson proposed the abolition of Provincialism and a separate Government for each Island, he "would have found many supporters, for much might be said in favor of such" a

schemed Nothing in the experience of Westland or Timaru has transpired to justify the idea that the County system presents advantages over the Provincial ; while the elaborate details offered by the Major for acceptance, although very pretty on paper, would-be found vexatious in practice. The multiplication of numerous petty local Legislatures would proye an intolerable nuisance, while the limited number of members in each Cooncil would afford the means of petty tyranny now kept in check by the larger nuinbeia in Provincial Councils.